Shades of Green

Chapter 18: Furniture Show

A few days before the show...

Hope and Sarah

Time seems to fly when you have a child. There are times Hope just wants to grab her and beg her to slow down, so she can enjoy herself a little longer. Her first word was "more". Hope had been at her wits in on Sara with crying from her teeth coming in as she put a spoon full of ice cream in her mouth. Not only did Sarah stop crying but she said more. Too cute for words, Hope snapped a picture of her chocolate-covered face and framed it for her desk. That was only the one of many pictures that would not only fill her office but her refrigerator, walls, tables, and any other surface one could place a picture on.

Sarah's first steps were taken while they were playing in the living room one day. At that moment, Hope knew that her little pup was growing too fast. When Sarah turned three she knew she needed to start to prepare her for meeting her pack. Hope pulled out her computer and began pulling out public pictures of the pack. Years ago, when she left the company, the pack had made a statement that Hope had chosen to leave the company and stay at home and she was to be left alone because she no longer wanted to be in the public eye. Thankful that was the end of that, but she thinks her family may have had something to do with them coming out with a statement.

With each new picture, Hope's heart sunk. All these years, the Beta had held back from seeing them or hearing any news of them. She was sure that Sarah might have a sibling or two.

"Mama, what are you doing?" Sarah asked as she skipped into Hope's office.

"Well, if you must know, I am making a proposal for you," Hope said, smiling at the little girl.

"For me?" Sarah asked.

"Yes, after the furniture show. I have to tell you something very important. It is about who your dad is and your pack." Hope said, reaching out for the girl to hold.

"My Pack? Like the other kids in school?" Sarah asked. Hope shook her head.

"Is this OK to talk about?" Hope asked Sarah.

"Of course, Mama, as long as it doesn't make you too sad. I want to talk about it." the little pup said. How such adult words of a small pup could bring comfort to Hope, she would never know.

"Thank you baby, and it won't make me sad, I promise." She hugged the pup. "Now go play because I also need to finish getting ready for the show."

" OK, Mama, if you need me I'll be in my room." Sarah said so matter of factly. Hope laughed and shook her head. Closing the tabs she had opened, she began to work on the furniture show that was in a few days. Checking the register one last time to make sure Steel 'n' Smith wasn't one of the vendors. It wasn't something they normally do anyway, but Hope had to make sure. The list was checked so Hope was in the clear. No more vendors were allowed to attend since the cut off date was yesterday. She breathed a sigh of relief and continued doing her work. It wasn't that she was hiding from them, it was the element of surprise she would have to handle on both ends she didn't want to deal with just yet.

The Smiths

"I'll talk to Nicolas but furniture shows aren't something we normally do." Victoria paused to listen to the other end of the phone. "I know we have a new concept coming out, but how would a show benefit the concept." she paused again to listen. "I see your point, again I'll talk to Nicolas and asked him what he thinks. Get back with you soon. OK, bye-bye." Victoria hung up the phone.

"Was that Scott, asking for us to join the show again?" Nicolas said with his IPad in his hand, reading the news.

"Yes, and he has some good points, but we just have never had to do a show. Not that I am opposed, I really just don't see the benefits of it," Victoria said as she went back to her coffee.

"Ma'am, here is your breakfast," Paula said to Victoria,

"Thank you Paula." Victoria put her plate down and began to eat. "Oh before I forget to tell you Paula, the gardener will be here today to put in a new herb garden. We told him how well you cook with fresh herbs and he said he is a pro at planting herbs. So we hired him to do so." Victoria said with glee.

"Thank you ma'am, I can't wait to use it." Paula said. Victoria turned to her plate and began eating. Josh comes into the kitchen.

"Did you make up your mind about the furniture show? Word on the street Deans and Sons are going to be there looking for new and up-coming styles of furniture. He plans to buy these companies for pennies and make dollars." Josh said matter of factly. "We could go and find vendors to create branches. Not over run someone's hard work." Josh said as he sat down at the table. Paula was bringing him his plate.

"I think we should at least see the competition that we are facing these days," Janet said as her and Katie walked in.

"I have to agree with Janet on this. Staying new and fresh helps keep a company going." Katie chimed in. Nicolas put his IPad down.

"Well, I guess, you have all done your research on this. If it's something you think will be beneficial to the company, I don't see any harm in going." Nicolas said as he started to eat his breakfast.

"I'll call Scott back and let him know. I know he will be over joyed to find out," Victoria stated.

Present time: Furniture Show

"Hope!" Someone gasped.

Hope was standing a few feet away from her pack with her daughter besides them. Her Beta was pacing because they were too close to comfort. Not that they put two and two together, yet they were still stunned to see her standing there.

"Hope?" Victoria said and started to run to the Beta. Hope flinched and moved out of the way, before she could touch her. Victoria's eyes seemed to fill with tears. There was no way she was going to let any of them touch her.

"Victoria, good to see you," Hope said, and made her way quickly to Sarah. She grabbed the little girl and placed her behind her as a sign of protection.

"Wait, Sarah is your little girl?" Josh questioned, now they are putting two and two together. Hope smiled at them and shook her head. "Then who?" Hope knew what he meant and quickly answered.

"Sergio's" She spit out quietly, still trying to keep a gap between them and her. She didn't think they would take her, but her Beta didn't trust any of them. Especially after the way she was treated those last few months she had lived with the pack. Sergio locked eyes with Hope.

"Why..mine? She is mine?" Sergio said. "Why?"

"This isn't the place or time," Hope said quietly. Nicolas and Katie hadn't said anything. They just keep looking at her with sad eyes.

"Mommy, who are these people?" Sarah said, peeking out from behind her now. Hope bent down to her level.

"Remember the other day I told you after the furniture show we would talk about your father and your pack?" Hope told the little girl. Sarah shook her head. "Well, they are your pack and Sergio, the one in the black suit is your father." Sarah looked up at them and smiled.

"Nice to meet you." Sarah said so matter of factly.

"Nice to meet you!" Sergio said, moving closer to the girl. Hope growled a little. Which caused all of them to look at her.

"Hope, we would never...." Nicolas began to say, and was cut off by the Beta.

"I know." She said with her head hung looking at her hands. "I am sorry. It's just my Beta isn't trusting when it comes to Sarah."

"We understand." Katie said, moving close to Hope. She reached out to touch her hand but the Beta flinched and moved back. Watching this play out, all Nicolas could think of was how much they had hurt her. All those years without the pack raising their child alone, the hurt she carried was more than he could take. Hope looked up at Katie and she had tears in her eyes.

"Sorry, I can't.." Hope said quietly. Janet took Katie in her arms and rubbed her shoulders.

"It's OK, Hope we understand. We all know it will take some time." Janet said, trying to comfort both of them.

"Mama, Alison said she was going to take me to the playground when you got back. Can the pack come too?" Sarah asked. Hope almost had a panic attack right there.

"Baby, they have their own show to do. I am sure we can make arrangements for a play date together. How does that sound?" Hope said quickly, hoping that the pack would agree not to go with her until Hope could be there as well.

"Oh, sorry I didn't mean to keep you from work." Sarah said to the pack. Nicolas stepped up and bent down in front of her.

"I think a play date sounds great. Lets do it!" Nicolas said. Hope began to breathe a little easier. Sarah jumped up and down and Alison took her hand and they walked out of the large room. Hope stood up and pulled six cards out of her purse, and handed them to Nicolas.

"Here is my contact information. We normally go to the park on Main Street on Sunday's afternoon to get ice cream and play. You are more than welcome to join us tomorrow. Also, I will have the custody papers ready." Hope stated

"Hope.." Nicolas said, but she interrupted because the last thing she wanted to hear was some empty apology.

"I had written them out when she was born so you can look at them and have your lawyer look at them. Once you sign them and they are mailed off, we will start sharing custody." Hope said, looking at Nicolas in the eye. "Until then, please respect my wishes and your more than welcome to FaceTime, Sarah, at any time. Well, within reason that is." Hope put her purse up and faced them. "Now, if you would excuse me, I have a show to do today."

They all nodded and walked away. They must have been wearing scent blockers or else Hope would have smelled them before she saw them. Throughout the day, she worked on her show but she could feel six pairs of eyes watching her the whole day. Exhausted, all she wanted to do was go home and go to bed. Even though she knew the three-year-old would be asking a ton of questions, she still wanted to go to bed as soon as she could.

On the other side of the room, the pack was also going through it.

"She flinched...." Victoria said with tears in her eyes. "How.. what if we can never touch her again? My Omega leaped with joy when I saw her and she flinched. Then there was Sarah.. and she growled...." Victoria said, sobbing into Nicolas's chest. Luckily, they had a private room for VIP vendors and they all used it to get themselves together.

"I know baby, you have to remember she is still hurting. She carries everything that happens in her heart. It's going to be awhile before we can even shake her hand, I fear." Nicolas said, rubbing his Omeag's back as she sobbed into his chest. The rest of the Pack wasn't any better. Janet and Katie were sobbing in each other's arms as well and Josh was rubbing Sergio's back as he looked into space. "Babies, we have to pull it together. We all now have a new reason as to why. We have to do it for Sarah." Sergio wiped his face off.

"Nicolas is right. We have to do it for them. We will win Hope back and love Sarah so hard she will forget she was without us for three years." Sergio said. This was the first time Sergio wasn't doom and gloom. He had just learned he was a father, so he knew he had to be a different person now.

The rest of the show went on with them watching every move Hope made. If you asked them if they even met anyone, they wouldn't be able to tell you. Their Alphas and Omegas were in so much joy that they found their Beta and an added bonus was the new pup. They just couldn't take their eyes off the one they loved and missed so much.

After the show was over and the breakdown team for each vendor was cleaning up, the pack headed over to Hope's section.

"Did you have a good show?" Victoria approached Hope gently.

"Yes, I received some orders. Did you all do well?" Hope smiled and was polite.

"Yes, we did well," Janet responded. Hope smiled and continued to work.

"Mommy, said you are going to come to our park to play tomorrow." Sarah said. The whole pack smiled.

"Yes, that's OK isn't it?" Katie asked Sarah.

"Oh, yes, as long as I get my chocolate ice cream, then we can play all day if you want." Sarah said, giggling. They all made a mental note of how her laughter sounded like Hope's did at one time.

"What if we get you two scoops of ice cream?" Sergio bent down to her level. Sarah looked up

"I see how this is going to work. One scoop is enough, it insures me that Sarah doesn't have any cavities and that I get a good nights rest without a hyper pup on my hands." Hope said firmly. Sarah bent her head down and started to pull at her dress.

"Mommy said no to two scoops," Sarah said. The Alphas didn't know where they wanted to kiss Hope for being such a good mother, or sneak Sarah off and give her all the ice cream she wanted.

"It's OK, your Mommy is being a good mother and looking out for you." Katie said. Sarah nodded but still had a pout.

"That's right and we will see you tomorrow. Ok?" Janet said.

"Sarah, tell everyone good-bye and good-night." Hope said in a gentle but firm tone. Sarah looked up at the pack.

"Good-bye pack and good-night. I will see you tomorrow." She hugged Sergio quickly because he was the only one bent down to her level. Sergio fell in love with the pup for the hundredth time that day when she did that. All the Alpha knew was he was smitten by this pup of his. They all said good-night and that they would see her tomorrow. Within a moment Sarah and Hope had left to go to their home. The pack knew that finding Hope was a small part of the battle and the major part was getting her to trust in their love for her. They had messed up, and they planned to rectify every second of hurt she had felt. Even if it takes the rest of their life to fix it. Finding out Sarah was now in the picture was an added bonus. They had to find a way to make sure their pack was whole again.